One on One: Twitter’s Photo Editor Vs. Instagram

Notice anything new about Twitter lately? More hipster-style pics than usual perhaps? That’s because Twitter now has its own photo editor. If you use Twitter on your smartphone, you can snap a shot, use filters to make the image more sassy and then share it with the rest of the world. Sounds familiar, right? Twitter’s built-in photo editor is a clear poke at Instagram.

In case you don’t know the full story on the Twitter-Instagram beef, here’s a short recap: it all began a few months ago through a series of changes brought about by Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in April 2012. Later this December, Instagram announced that it will no longer support embedded photos on Twitter in an attempt to get more traffic to the Instagram platform. Twitter did not remain idle and quickly announced the release of their own photo editor.

But is Twitter able to put up a fight against the app that changed photo sharing forever? In this post, we present a thorough comparison of Instagram’s photo editing features and Twitter’s new editor. We keep an open mind; aware of the fact Twitter’s new photo editing tools need a few more months to mature.

Cropping Tool

Instagram requires users to crop their images into squares. This seemingly minor constraint forces you to consciously choose the focus of each frame and at times may hamper your creative urges. Twitter, on the other hand enables you to crop your image into either a square or a rectangle.

Auto Enhance

As you take a photo, Twitter will first present the unfiltered version of your image. Tapping the wand icon once will auto-enhance the photo for you. To undo, click it again. This is the same famous feature we all know from Instagram under the Sun icon. After using both apps in iOS6, we must say that Instagram’s auto-enhance takes the prize for sharpness, giving the image a more natural look.

The Blur Effect for Tilt Shift

On Instagram, tilt-shift is mostly used as a blur tool that comes with two options: linear or circular. The blur tool is a touch of awesomeness that cannot be spared on Instagram. This feature, which can really give a photo a professional appeal, is not incorporated into the Twitter photo editor.

Filters

Photo filters are the core of any photo sharing app. They can transform any ordinary photo into a work of art. Instagram was successful in making their brand almost synonymous with photography filters. Their filters gained huge popularity and are more or less the reason why Instagram is the number 1 photography app on the market. With just 8 filters on board, Twitter is no competition to Instagram’s 17.

The Grid

Twitter introduces a very cool option where all versions of your photo can be viewed side by side. This feature places your photo with all the different filters applied into one grid, so you can compare and select the best one. This is a very helpful capability that Instagram does not include – for now :)